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Fleischer faces aggressive questioning on his last day
Washington, July 15: White House press secretary Ari Fleischer spent his last day at the lectern as if it were any other day, sparring with reporters.
Washington, July 15: White House press secretary Ari Fleischer spent his last day at the lectern as if it were any other day, sparring with reporters.
Fleischer on this day yesterday, as on so many before, defended President George W Bush against a crowd of aggressive interrogators.
The press secretary used uncharacteristically colourful language on his last day, branding as "a bunch of bull" the suggestion that the African uranium was a major Bush argument for the Iraqi invasion.
Reporters applauded bush's top spokesman as he entered the briefing room for the last time. Then they grilled him for nearly an hour on bush's disputed claim that Iraq had tried to obtain uranium from Africa for use in nukes.
Fleischer kept his trademark cool under sharp questioning about how the claim got into Bush's state of the union speech last Jan 28.
A week earlier, the spokesman had acknowledged the assertion should not have appeared in bush's address. The tempest dogged bush throughout his trip to Africa and, dominated Fleischer's briefings yesterday.
Fleischer gave a long, academy awards-style thank-you speech after his briefing, offering gratitude to everyone from the white house operators to the secret service to the reporters who had raked him over the coals for 2 years.
Normally after his briefings, Fleischer hustled from the lectern back to his office to huddle with his colleagues. Yesterday, he hung around and sliced up a cake for his interrogators, who applauded him a second time after the grilling had concluded.
Bureau Report
The press secretary used uncharacteristically colourful language on his last day, branding as "a bunch of bull" the suggestion that the African uranium was a major Bush argument for the Iraqi invasion.
Reporters applauded bush's top spokesman as he entered the briefing room for the last time. Then they grilled him for nearly an hour on bush's disputed claim that Iraq had tried to obtain uranium from Africa for use in nukes.
Fleischer kept his trademark cool under sharp questioning about how the claim got into Bush's state of the union speech last Jan 28.
A week earlier, the spokesman had acknowledged the assertion should not have appeared in bush's address. The tempest dogged bush throughout his trip to Africa and, dominated Fleischer's briefings yesterday.
Fleischer gave a long, academy awards-style thank-you speech after his briefing, offering gratitude to everyone from the white house operators to the secret service to the reporters who had raked him over the coals for 2 years.
Normally after his briefings, Fleischer hustled from the lectern back to his office to huddle with his colleagues. Yesterday, he hung around and sliced up a cake for his interrogators, who applauded him a second time after the grilling had concluded.
Bureau Report